Yuying University [End]
Chapter 518: Fly, free bird
The incandescent lights on the curved dome ceiling began to flicker violently, as if disturbed by some unknown force.
Darkness silently spread from the direction of the lecture stage. Even though one half of the stadium remained bright as day, the other half was as dark as midnight.
A cold aura surged, and the eerie laughter of infants overlapped.
It was as if the gates of the underworld had swung open, warning the living to stay away.
Below, a cold, fierce wind battered the vice-principal. His face, contorted by the wind, was savage and so grim it seemed water could be wrung from it.
He stared deathly at the stage.
At the core of that terrifying vortex stood a pale-faced young man.
The hem of his shirt fluttered without a wind, and endless, grotesque shadows grew, stirred, and clamored in the darkness behind him…
As if flocking to their new king.
【00:17】
Less than twenty seconds remained before the lie would expire.
Once the countdown ended, his “own” back-facing figure would reappear. At that point, the stalled assimilation process would resume, and the situation would become truly irreversible.
But if the graduation ceremony could end early, the instance would close ahead of schedule, and the “Principal” persona, not yet fully assimilated, could automatically detach.
That’s right. From the moment he ate the Fruit of Lies and activated his talent, Wen Jianyan had already planned his escape route.
Wen Jianyan loved being alive.
Even if it meant breaking every bone in his body and burning his last drop of blood, he would live on fiercely.
He wanted to live.
…Which meant this had to be a quick battle.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, his gaze pressing down faintly.
“Go.”
In the next second, the darkness shot forward like the shadow of a sword, lunging mercilessly toward the vice-principal nearby.
“Hee hee!” “Hee hee!”
Mother told me to kill him, Mother told me to kill him!
Bite his flesh! Drink his blood! Crush his bones! Gouge out his eyes! Offer his death to my supreme mother!
Kill him, kill him!
The ghost infants engulfed the vice-principal like a tidal wave.
“Ahhhh—”
A blood-curdling scream came from below. Through the gaps, the vice-principal’s twisted face was visible, his gasps mixed with the horrific sound of breaking bones. “No, I can’t. This one thing, absolutely not—”
Although Wen Jianyan had temporarily usurped the principal’s authority through his talent, the rules were still fixed.
Strictly speaking, the vice-principal would only step down and hand over control of the school after the instance ended. This meant that even though Wen Jianyan had become the principal now, he still needed the vice-principal to announce the end of the graduation ceremony.
This was why he was the only one present who could not be completely suppressed by the temporary “Principal” identity.
He could sense something was wrong with Wen Jianyan and could also resist.
【00:15】
Fifteen seconds left.
Wen Jianyan suddenly chuckled. “If a different source won’t work, what about the same source?”
Still struggling?
Then he would crush its resistance with an overwhelming iron fist.
Make it unable to bear it, unable to defy it.
A smile flickered in the young man’s dark eyes.
He nonchalantly raised his hand. In the next second, the members of the student union and clubs nearby simultaneously turned their heads. Their hollow eyes glinted with a crazed look as they all stared in the vice-principal’s direction.
Deep within their eyes burned an intense desire to please their new god.
Mother is calling.
They were willing to give everything just to see Him smile.
To nestle forever by Mother’s side, to be sheltered by His love… Love me, Mother, trust me, Mother, use me, Mother.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh—”
At that moment, the entire world that the vice-principal had once controlled now turned to attack him.
Even though their abilities and levels differed, they all came from the same instance, incubated from the same womb… which meant only they could truly harm him.
He could not defy it.
He could not resist it.
He could not even struggle.
At the same time.
Every viewer in the livestream room and every anchor present held their breath, watching in shocked and stunned silence.
This was a scene almost unprecedented in the entire history of Nightmare.
A human.
A mere human.
Had single-handedly stolen a god’s authority, played the entire instance in the palm of his hand, and in the end, actually suppressed the biggest boss in the whole instance…
Moreover, this could only be described as…
A complete domination.
【00:12】
Twelve seconds on the countdown.
“I… announce…”
From beneath the countless crazed shadows, a suffocated voice finally broke the deathly silence.
Faced with an irresistible and terrifying pressure, it finally surrendered and handed over control.
“The graduation ceremony… is now… over.”
The moment the vice-principal’s words fell, the entire world seemed to tremble. Cannons, long set up in the stadium auditorium, fired in unison. Countless pieces of confetti fluttered down, as if in celebration.
—Congratulations on your graduation!
As the confetti rained down, the familiar system voice echoed in the ears of all the anchors present.
【Yuying Comprehensive University main quest completed, completion rate 100%, instance closing…】
【10, 9, …】
At the same time, the “Integrity First” livestream room erupted:
[Ahhh, damn!!]
[AHHHH!!! We graduated, we graduated, AHHHHH!]
[What about the anchor’s talent? How much time is left?]
[AHHH I counted! Exactly one second more than the instance!! One second!!!]
[Holy, holy, holy, witnessing history!!! This is so damn awesome, my god!]
[First, he exploited a bug to usurp godhood, then used lightning-fast tactics and superior power to crush them, forcing the instance to end early, saving everyone while making a clean getaway himself… I’m completely speechless, truly, speechless.]
[This is what you call a triumphant victory!! This is what you call a clutch reversal!! This is how you win!!!]
The anchors listened to the system broadcast, momentarily unable to process it.
Was this… a dream?
Although they had a vague guess about the current situation, when that guess became reality, they couldn’t help but show expressions of shock and bewilderment.
This instance… was ending?
They had won?
Victory had come so suddenly that they all felt an unreal sense of light-headedness.
The anchors’ gazes uncontrollably fell upon the lecture stage in the distance.
In the endless darkness, the young man stood silently, his pale face melting into the shadows behind him, his aura cold and terrifying, not like a living person.
—He did this.
The conclusion seemed absurd, and there was no concrete evidence, but even so, this realization was involuntarily burned into their minds, impossible to wash away or carve out.
Regardless, they had successfully graduated.
There were no tossed graduation caps, no joyous laughter. Beneath the endless shower of confetti, there was only the boundless exhaustion and relief after a great battle.
They were finally leaving this nightmarish place.
Not far away, Chen Cheng snorted a laugh, and the black Tang sword in his hand vanished.
He stood with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on Wen Jianyan in the distance, and tutted softly:
“…Tsk, to think I was actually saved.”
Hugo wordlessly stubbed out his cigarette. He lifted his eyelids, not looking at Wen Jianyan, but his iron-gray eyes gazed into the void.
It was unclear what he was thinking, but he didn’t seem particularly relaxed.
The countdown continued in their ears.
【5, 4…】
At this moment, the viewers in the livestream room were celebrating wildly. A flood of point gifts spammed the screen, pushing the livestream’s popularity to its absolute peak. In an instant, the “Integrity First” livestream was ostentatiously pushed to the top of Nightmare’s real-time leaderboard for both online donations and viewership—
This was not a position that could be easily reached.
In this spot, as long as an anchor was willing to enable the point consumption mode, their livestream would be pushed to every single viewer—whether they were online or not.
Normally, in a Nightmare livestream, the proportion of online viewers for a single stream was only 20%-40%. Obtaining such a promotional opportunity was equivalent to giving an anchor the chance to multiply their exposure and extend their influence to all viewers.
However, this collective revelry lasted only a few short seconds.
【33333333】
The countdown suddenly started to stutter. The monotonous, repetitive broadcast sounded incredibly strange, echoing flatly in everyone’s ears, like metal scraping against their eardrums.
“…!”
All the anchors were startled.
What was happening?
Wen Jianyan seemed to sense something. He paused slightly, his gaze landing on the void.
Although the instance closing countdown was stuck.
The countdown for the Fruit of Lies was still running.
【…2, 1】
In the “Integrity First” livestream room:
[…Huh?]
[What’s going on?]
[Why did the instance closing countdown stop?]
[Did the anchor use too many bugs and burn out the instance’s CPU?]
[No, it’s not that… I think I’ve seen this situation before…]
[???]
In the next second, a comment slowly drifted across the screen, each word bloody and heavy.
[—Nightmare is starting to interfere.]
The countdown ended.
【33333——】
The disrupted countdown continued to echo in their ears.
The Fruit of Lies had expired.
The moment it expired, that familiar back-facing figure appeared almost instantly before him. It was cold and familiar, its shoulders topped with that face that had already turned ninety percent, its hollow, strange eyes staring deathly at Wen Jianyan behind it. An infinite pulling force emanated from its body, a perfect copy of his own, tugging at him like a black hole, trying to drag him into the depths.
The countdown returned to normal.
【3, 2…】
Wen Jianyan looked into the void, his expressionless face pulling into a scornful sneer.
…Can’t play fair, can you?
He opened the livestream interface. With a flick of his finger, a blood-red, translucent apple materialized once more in his palm.
In the “Integrity First” livestream room:
[What the hell?]
[Damn, the anchor is preparing to go head-to-head with the system!!!!]
[Right, I almost forgot, the anchor was deliberately holding back from using his talent. He doesn’t just have one apple! If he wants, he can keep this up!]
Two left.
At most, he could hold out for two minutes.
Wen Jianyan’s eyes were fixed on the back-facing figure.
However, if Nightmare were truly determined to play dirty, he wouldn’t last even with ten apples. After all, Nightmare could delay time indefinitely.
But that wasn’t his goal.
In the livestream room:
[Damn it, Nightmare, your tactics are so ugly. He won fair and square, and you just can’t take it? If you can’t play, then don’t play.]
[I might enjoy watching the anchor get slaughtered, but isn’t it too much for the platform to bully an anchor like this?]
[I’m disgusted. I’m really canceling my subscription over this.]
[Cancel! Cancel!]
Nightmare delaying for a second could be explained away, since instances can be disrupted. But what if the delay extended to a minute?
Two minutes?
Could that still be passed off as a random accident?
Wen Jianyan stared into the void, brought the apple to his lips, and had a faint smile on his face.
【Audience First】
Isn’t that right?
If that’s the case, I’ll risk my own assimilation. Let’s see if you can truly withstand the resistance from the audience itself.
Before he could take a bite, the back-facing figure suddenly seemed to be disrupted by some invisible force and froze again, no longer retreating.
Hmm?
Wen Jianyan’s gaze shifted.
Suddenly, a “ding” sounded in his ear, followed by the familiar metallic, mechanical voice:
“Dear contracted anchor of the Nightmare Livestream, greetings!”
Oh, so you’re not playing dead anymore?
Wen Jianyan’s eyes lifted slightly.
“We regret to inform you that we have detected several rule violations on your part during this livestream. Due to your abnormal use of your talent, you have interfered with the core rule mechanics of this instance, leading to its current abnormal state.”
“We sincerely apologize for affecting your normal instance clearance, but the core framework of the instance is in jeopardy, and this action was taken out of necessity.”
“However, out of humanitarian concern for you, we will make a certain accommodation. Of the three commands you issued while your talent was active, you may choose one to keep. Please choose carefully.”
Three commands?
Wen Jianyan paused, almost immediately recalling what he had just said.
First: “Stop the attack.”
Second: “Tear up all the re-employment contracts.”
Third: “The graduation ceremony ends immediately.”
The first command was irrelevant whether it was kept or not; the anchors were no longer under attack.
If the third command was not kept, Wen Jianyan would surely be devoured by that back-facing figure and completely become the new Principal incubated by this instance, the true vessel for the “Mother of the World” godhood.
But… if he kept the third command and not the second…
All the torn-up re-employment contracts would be restored and take effect again.
Wen Jianyan stood where he was, a sense of absurdity washing over him.
What “humanitarian concern”?
He raised his eyes, his cold gaze aimed at the void.
This was a threat.
An undisguised threat!
Either you stay, or your teammates stay.
“…”
In that instant, everything around him seemed to fall into a dead silence.
Time stood still.
The earth stopped turning.
The back-facing figure was motionless, the countdown motionless.
Like a drawn bowstring, waiting for Wen Jianyan to make his decision.
“…………”
Wen Jianyan’s gaze shifted, landing below the lecture stage, and swept lightly across the faces of those few people.
His palm relaxed.
The blood-red apple dissolved into specks of light and vanished.
The young man shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes squinting contentedly, a smile on his face.
He still had that nonchalant, couldn’t-care-less attitude:
“Alright.”
“Being a god isn’t too bad.”
“Although I have no idea why you’re so desperate to create a god, but…”
He lifted his eyelids, his gaze piercing the darkness like a sword, his voice hinting at a storm.
“I’m really curious about what you all plan to do next.”
“You couldn’t control me when I was still human.”
Wen Jianyan pulled a scornful smile.
“—Let’s see you try again after I become a god.”
The beast, skilled in disguise, tore off its docile mask and bared its fangs at the darkness.
For a moment, the livestream room fell into a dead silence.
“…”
The audience, as if stunned, forgot to breathe, for a moment feeling as if they were facing the edge of a blade.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze, returning to his previous indifferent demeanor. He made his choice:
“Keep the second one.”
And so, the first and third commands vanished into thin air.
Only the second command was maintained.
—In a sense, Nightmare had succeeded.
But strangely, the audience didn’t feel much relief. They only felt… danger.
That back-facing figure began to move again.
Step by step.
The distance was closed in the blink of an eye.
By the time it reached Wen Jianyan, it had become a void, an empty space, pitch black inside, like a divine seat waiting to be filled.
Wen Jianyan’s eyes were downcast, waiting calmly.
The countdown for the instance closing resumed.
【3, 2, 1】
The countdown hit zero.
【Livestream conclud—】
Suddenly, without any warning, Wen Jianyan felt his wrist being tightly gripped by some unknown force.
“…?”
He started, looking down in astonishment.
It was a blood-red thorn.
This…
The thorn coiled tightly, mercilessly constricting, breaking the skin, mangling the flesh, and sinking deep into the bone, like a vicious beast clamping down with its teeth, biting down hard!
As if realizing something, Wen Jianyan abruptly raised his head, looking in the direction the thorn had come from.
Below the stage, the blue-haired, wicked woman stared at him, her blood-red eyes burning with an intense, almost venomous emotion, as if she wanted to tear him to shreds.
Meeting such a gaze, Wen Jianyan’s heart couldn’t help but clench.
And just then, he suddenly saw Tian Ye standing behind Yun Bilan, his face showing reluctance.
Tian Ye’s hand was pressed on her shoulder.
This posture… Wen Jianyan was very familiar with it. He had seen it before by the swimming pool.
This is what Tian Ye did when he used his talent.
But why…
Before Wen Jianyan could figure out the answer, a wave of dizziness struck him.
He staggered backward but was caught firmly by a hand.
“Stand steady!”
The Prophet’s urgent voice sounded in his ear.
Wait, what in the world—
Wen Jianyan looked up in astonishment, only to find that he had somehow appeared below the lecture stage. The thorn on his wrist was still coiling like a living thing, constricting, like a noose of fate, impossible to break free from, not allowing refusal.
And on the lecture stage, Yun Bilan had appeared in the spot Wen Jianyan had just been standing.
She gave Wen Jianyan one last, deep look.
It was hard to describe what was in that gaze.
But time and space seemed to freeze in that instant, and an endless sense of unease and panic crashed down on him.
“Wait, wait—”
Wen Jianyan’s pupils constricted, and he cried out involuntarily.
Yun Bilan had already looked away.
Time seemed to slow down.
A single second stretched into an entire century.
The distance also seemed to become exaggeratedly distorted. The path that was originally just a few steps away now seemed to be separated by a heavenly chasm.
The darkness, as if not noticing the difference, seized her and swallowed her whole.
The stadium was deathly silent.
Even the instance closing countdown was stuck.
The entire world seemed to have had its pause button pressed.
Nothing could be changed.
In the next second, the entire world began to shake violently. The lights overhead exploded with a “pop, pop,” and countless bricks and tiles fell, crashing onto the ground. The entire school seemed to be trembling.
“Ah—ahhh—” Terrifying human screams came from all directions, sending shivers down the spine.
It was as if long-slumbering corpses were awakening. A sky-high cold aura erupted, and the entire Yuying Comprehensive University began to collapse!
“…”
On his wrist, the blood-red vine had vanished.
It seemed to have disappeared at the same time as the figure on the stage.
All that was left was a bloody wound, so deep the bone was visible.
Wen Jianyan didn’t feel any pain. He wore a bewildered expression and subconsciously took a step forward, but his other wrist was caught in a death grip.
“Don’t go!”
Behind him, the Prophet’s voice seemed to come from far away.
Wen Jianyan blinked slowly and subconsciously turned his head.
He saw Su Cheng standing behind him, his lips pressed into a thin line, his dark eyes churning with endless, complex emotions.
He said urgently, “Everyone’s talent has multiple different forms of expression.”
However, depending on their potential, some people possess multiple forms of their talent from the start. Just like Wen Jianyan, whose talent had the ‘Flower’ and ‘Fruit’ states from the beginning.
But some people might never activate a second form in their entire lives.
To forcibly activate another form, sometimes some extra… help is needed.
Nearby, Tian Ye’s face was pale, and he looked away guiltily.
His talent had been revealed once before; it seemed to be a type that could interfere with other anchors’ talents. This was why Orange Candy had treated him differently, and despite his low level and lack of experience, he was brought into this instance.
But no one could have imagined…
That he could actually do something to this extent.
Su Cheng: “Her second talent was born from an intense desire—Equivalent Exchange.”
“Exchanging your position, your aura, even your fate.”
Su Cheng tightened his fingers, gripping Wen Jianyan’s arm firmly.
“She succeeded. There’s nothing you can do to change it now.”
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s movements froze.
He looked at Su Cheng as if staring at a stranger, a faint sound escaping his throat.
“…Ah.”
That’s right. This instance was a trap meant for him. Nightmare never intended to let him go from the start.
No entry without exit, no return from where one came.
But, at the critical moment, the situation was unexpectedly reversed.
By a person who shouldn’t have known how to reverse the situation, borrowing the talent of a teammate she didn’t understand, using a method she shouldn’t have known.
And before the instance began…
Su Cheng had strongly insisted on bringing Yun Bilan along.
Not far away, the Prophet watched him, dark waves rolling in his eyes, his face devoid of emotion, his lips moving:
“It’s over.”
Outside the school, in the endless darkness, a figure floated.
Wu Zhu watched all of this.
Before the end of the first school year, he had attempted to ‘kill’ Wen Jianyan, promising the other eternal life and affection, but the other had refused his gift and instead made a bet with him.
—He was not to interfere in the instance.
And now, the gears of the conspiracy had begun to turn. Wen Jianyan had been completely drawn into this irreversible, terrifying situation. Now, even if Wu Zhu wanted to, he couldn’t interfere.
This was the birth of a new god.
As a long-forgotten old god, he was powerless.
But unexpectedly, things really took a turn at the critical moment.
He survived.
The instance ended.
Wu Zhu had lost this bet. He had once again lost the chance to hold the other in his embrace for all eternity.
But he didn’t feel particularly disappointed.
Wu Zhu was slightly puzzled by his own feelings, but soon, his attention was once again drawn away.
Because Yuying Comprehensive University was about to collapse.
This school was a womb for creating a god. If Wen Jianyan had become the principal, as the Mother of the World already acknowledged by the rules, he would have smoothly become the new god—this was why on the stage earlier, he could so easily summon countless ghost infants and manipulate the instance’s monsters for his own use.
Because he was the very being this instance was intended to create.
But now, it was different.
The choice of principal changed at the last moment.
And the new principal was not the ‘Mother of the World’.
Although she could temporarily swap with Wen Jianyan, she was ultimately not Wen Jianyan, nor could she become a god.
The brief period of paralysis created by the talent had passed.
Like an unfitting piece being forced into a puzzle, without the “new god” that should have been at the core, the entire instance, which was premised on this, began to fall apart.
The countless corpses suppressed within the school began to awaken. The entire rule system was collapsing. They emerged from the steps and walls with malicious faces and skeletal remains—forced to sleep for too long, upon awakening, they would be born directly as malevolent ghosts, released from their crumbling prison.
Wu Zhu’s eyes were indifferent.
He had the power to suppress these monsters and could stop the school from collapsing.
However, Wu Zhu didn’t feel he had any obligation to act.
It wasn’t Wen Jianyan himself who was trapped inside.
Just an insignificant human.
Besides, Nightmare was still closely monitoring the situation there. Intervening rashly now would only attract unnecessary attention and might even require him to pay a greater price.
But…
Wu Zhu lowered his golden eyes, gazing from afar at the small human figure below.
The curse marks connected them, and he could distantly feel the strong emotional vibrations coming from the other.
Yuying Comprehensive University must have a principal, just as Changsheng Building must have a bride.
And the reverse was also true.
Meaning, once the school collapsed, the new principal herself would dissipate along with it.
“…”
Sigh.
Wu Zhu sighed, his figure gradually dissipating into the darkness.
Forget it.
Suddenly.
Without warning, the collapse stopped.
“…”
The anchors, still shaken, looked around.
Due to the sudden abnormality, the instance’s closure had also been disrupted and could no longer proceed smoothly. Even though more than a minute had passed, the anchors had still not been sent out of the instance.
They didn’t know what had happened, nor why the perfectly fine graduation ceremony had gone wrong…
The current situation had far exceeded their imagination.
Although the collapse had stopped, a large part of the stadium’s roof had caved in, revealing the pitch-black sky above.
The red was rapidly fading.
If they were anomalies like Wen Jianyan, they would be able to see the dense web of blood vessels covering the sky rapidly breaking, falling, and burning away.
“…What’s going on?”
“Where’s Nightmare? Why can’t we go back?”
“So what do we do now…”
Suddenly, all the whispers ceased.
Even the sound of the wind was gone beneath the black sky.
On the half-destroyed lecture stage, a figure slowly stepped out.
Long blue hair fell over her shoulders, her beautiful face devoid of any expression. Her eyes had at some point been dyed a hollow black, her aura cold and terrifying, not like a living person.
Below, countless anchors stared in astonishment at this scene.
She slowly took a step forward, coming to the front of the collapsed lecture stage. She slowly looked around, as if oblivious to the apocalyptic scene, and lowered her head.
Speaking into the crooked, dust-covered microphone, she said softly:
“I announce, the graduation ceremony is over. All students present have graduated successfully.”
【The Principal announces, the ceremony is over.】
There were no additional conditions. Just silently opening the great gate, telling everyone:
You may leave.
In the next second, as if pulled by some invisible force, all the anchors began to dissolve into specks of light, fading away little by little.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze followed Yun Bilan’s figure, his teeth clenched tightly.
He felt it too.
…He was being “sent” out of the instance.
But perhaps due to his special status, his dissipation was far slower than the others.
Not far away, on the high lecture stage.
The new principal of Yuying Comprehensive University turned her eyes, her gaze falling quietly upon him, and said softly:
“I wish you all a bright future.”
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan felt something heavy in his arms.
He paused, subconsciously looking down.
A hard, familiar box had appeared in his palm. The object was so familiar that it made him freeze on the spot.
This was the purpose of their entry into the instance.
The unknown item from the drawer in the principal’s office.
However, because it had been taken by the mirror image at a critical moment, Wen Jianyan had thought he had lost his chance—after all, at this point, besides the officially appointed principal herself, no one else would know its location.
Although it was a pity…
Since the clue was lost, Wen Jianyan had no choice but to give up.
And now…
The thing he had been searching for with all his heart since entering the instance was now lying heavily in his palm.
A note was attached to the box, with familiar handwriting on it.
Four words were written on the paper.
【Happy Graduation】.
The specks of light vanished.
Everything returned to tranquility.
The entire campus was unrecognizable.
The new principal stood upon the collapsed ruins.
She tilted her head up, her gaze following the already vanished specks of light, and gently raised her hand, as if wanting to reach for the sky.
I willingly entered this cage, only to trade for your freedom to soar.
Ah…
Free bird.
Fly.
Noooooo not my favorite girly
Nooooo whyyyyy😭😭